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WEASEL45
04-29-2004, 02:36 PM
article (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/sportSkills) how the hell is boxing the hardest sport. i would have said hockey.

Clarkmeister
04-29-2004, 02:39 PM
You've never watched a boxing match in person from close range.

Diplomat
04-29-2004, 02:44 PM
I thought boxing was a given. The ranking of baseball over soccer, swimming, cycling, skiing and rugby is pretty wierd though.

-Diplomat

HDPM
04-29-2004, 02:49 PM
Boxing is no surprise IMO.

MMMMMM
04-29-2004, 02:55 PM
Have you ever tried boxing? Go to the gym and punch the heavy bag at a decent speed for a couple of minutes and see how tired you get.

Boxing tired me out more than wrestling, which tired me out more than sport judo. There is just something about having to execute repeated explosive bursts of energy which is very draining. Just my 2c. But seriously, if you haven't boxed (or boxed recently), go work out on the heavy bag for a session. You'll be glad you did (also a great way to relieve stress from bad beats;-)).

Kurn, son of Mogh
04-29-2004, 04:11 PM
Well, soccer, skiing & rugby were close, but trumped by baseball's hand-eye coordination. But to even suggest that cycling or swimming require the anywhere near the complex coordination and skill set of baseball is silly. Swimming and cycling are primarily fitness sports, and while fitness is one factor is how hard a sport is, even a remarkably coordinated and super-fit athlete like Michael Jordan had trouble with baseball.

swimfan
04-29-2004, 04:54 PM
/begin rant/

Great, now I have to defend the honor of swimming. Like anything, we must make the best attempt at making a apples:apples discussion. Anyway, at what level of competition are we talking about? If we're talking about the highest level, there's a remarkable amount of coordination involved with swimming. Proper body position, rotation, hand entry, acceleration and deceleration through the stroke take years of conditioning to get right, among other things. Try butterfly sometime. Many people can hit a baseball, many people can swim. There aren't very many people that can hit a baseball at a major-league level. There aren't very many people that possess the coordination to swim at a world-class level. The difference between the two is in baseball you need a fast twitch reflex to hit the ball. If I recall reflex was a separate variable.

In my opinion, boxing is the most difficult sport. I would consider wrestling to be the second. The thing with swimming that many people fail to recognize is the mental discipline it requires. Swimming miles per day back and forth in quite excruciating pain without being provided a verbal release well, sucks. Anyway, I would consider swimming in the top 10, though clearly I'm biased. Eh, but so is Brian Jordan.

/end rant/

daryn
04-29-2004, 05:39 PM
i know people already said this, but it really needs to be said again. if someone were to ask me what the hardest sport was, i would have said boxing. i actually had this conversation with my friend a week ago. he mentioned hockey, i mentioned soccer, than we started talking about boxing and came to agreement.

if most people punch a heavy bag for about 30 seconds they will get winded, even people who are in shape. now imagine the bag punches back.

daryn
04-29-2004, 05:41 PM
michael jordan hit around .250 playing minor league ball right? i wouldn't call that struggling... maybe compared to major leaguers, but not compared to your average joe.

Kurn, son of Mogh
04-29-2004, 05:47 PM
He wasn't a bad AA hitter, but he was a well below average fielder

Joe Tall
04-29-2004, 05:47 PM
Rugby is massively underrated in this list.

Peace,
Joe Tall

MMMMMM
04-29-2004, 05:58 PM
I think swimming is the best sport for overall conditioning and general well-being. Swimming the butterfly, especially for someone not used to it, will tire you out pretty fast like punching the heavy bag. Other strokes are relatively easy.

Sooga
04-29-2004, 06:30 PM
I too, was of your opinion back in college. I thought it was just a buncha knuckleheads swinging at each other for 12 rounds. Nothing too difficult, right? During college we had a certain party where we held a couple boxing matches before it began. We used really soft gloves, and no hitting above the neck, and we had 3 90-second rounds. Granted, I wasn't in totally peak physical condition, but I was no slouch, and after those 3 rounds, I was more tired than I had EVER been doing ANY physical sport. I play 5 games of pickup ball for 2, 3 hours, and at the end of that I wasn't nearly as tired as I was after that boxing match. And we weren't even hitting that hard! I was shocked, and since then I've had a newfound respect for boxing.

Sooga
04-29-2004, 06:31 PM
I believe he hit .202.. but he did show good speed on the basepaths.. Plus, he just looked fantastic in a baseball uniform *chuckle*

BeerMoney
04-29-2004, 09:44 PM
The toughest sports to be successful in are the ones with the best athletes and competitors. These are usually the sports which are accessible and affordable to the most people. I would take a guess and say it would be tougher to be the best ping-pong player in China then the best Hockey player in Mexico.

Diplomat
04-29-2004, 10:10 PM
Well, there seems to be some consensus that boxing is the most difficult sport. I'll nominate it as also being the dumbest sport.

Flame away.

-Diplomat

Diplomat
04-29-2004, 10:15 PM
Kurn,

I agree, the degree of hand/eye coordination required for many parts of top-level baseball is incredible. The question is how to define "physically demanding" or "difficult." Do you see why?

Best wishes,

-Diplomat

jdl22
04-29-2004, 10:30 PM
I'm not surprised it isn't but I think cricket should be on the list ranked right with baseball. I thought cricket would be easier because the bat is flat while a baseball bat is round, but the bounce adds a serious degree of difficulty in batting.

Haven't really played cricket, just stepped in when a Jamaican friend of mine was bowling and I think that it was much harder to bat there than in baseball. He was taking it easy on me and there was pretty much nothing I could do but hope to get lucky.

Anybody actually played both?

andyfox
04-29-2004, 11:36 PM
I agree 100%. Two guys stand in a square area and chase each other, trying to hit each other until one guy falls down and stays down long enough for a third man to count to ten before he gets up.

Let 'em flame us both. They have no case.

andyfox
04-30-2004, 12:15 AM
I also did a little boxing back then and I felt like my arms were going to fall off after the second round. So I held them a little lower at the start of the 3rd figuring my opponent was feeling about the same. Big mistake.

I still agree with Diplomat that it's a sport for morons.

ThaSaltCracka
04-30-2004, 02:00 AM
andy your rational is incredibly stupid. You could trivalize any sport and make it sound simple.
Swimming is just swimming
marathon is just running
football is just throwing, hitting and running. Do you see my point?
I don't know much about boxing, nor am I much of a fun, but I imagine there is a lot of skill and technique invloved in boxing. I have some experience wrestling and I know in wrestling its all about senses your opponents move and then trying to perform the correct counter, all the while not getting your ass handed to you.

I agree I think Boxing is probably the hardest sport, but I have a problem with some of the team sports listed on here. Some posisitions are easier in team sports than others. Its harder to be the pitcher than it is the rightfielder. thats probably my only rant with the list, oh maybe also the fact that fishing is called a sport.

BadBoyBenny
04-30-2004, 08:10 AM
I think boxing would be pretty tough if I was fighting anyone better than me.

I have no idea why they think horse racing requires more analytical ability than golf though.

Or why auto racing requires almost as much hand eye coordination as table tennis and more than calf roping.

pokerexplorer.com
04-30-2004, 08:28 AM
lol

Cptkernow
04-30-2004, 09:26 AM
"Or why auto racing requires almost as much hand eye coordination as table tennis and more than calf roping."

The consequences for failure of hand eye coordination in auto racing are a tad more severe in auto racing than table tennis.

banditbdl
04-30-2004, 10:11 AM
I'll preface this by saying I raced competitive Slalom and Giant Slalom for a club team and my high school for 7 or 8 years. As such, I can't believe they ranked Skiing ahead of sports like Rugby, Lacrosse, and a tie with Water Polo, its simply not that difficult. It scored high in nerves, (as it should, especially if you start talking about the speed events) and pretty evenly across the rest of the board, so I guess that's how it got so high. The glaring error they made involving skiing was in Speed. It looks like in other sports they mean this to equate to foot speed, see the low scores for NASCAR and Horse Racing. Yet somehow skiing scores higher than soccer in Speed. They obviously used a double standard here in qualifying speed, if you dropped the Speed for skier's from 7.4 to about 2.4 its overall rank would plummet.

andyfox
04-30-2004, 02:56 PM
Other sports have a goal other than trying to beat their opponent into a bloody pulp. Hitting somebody is not a sport.

A swimmer has the goal of getting to the destination faster than his opponents. He doesn't try win by drowning them. A marathoner has the same goal as a swimmer; again, he doesn't trip his opponents in an effort to beat them.

But in boxing, the measure of winning is phsically abusing your opponent until he can't compete any more. It's barbaric, unlike any other sport.

Mike Gallo
04-30-2004, 03:02 PM
[ QUOTE ]
You've never watched a boxing match in person from close range.

[/ QUOTE ]

Or gone 3 rounds with head gear. I have and I can say, I would consider boxing the hardest hitting sport.

Mike Gallo
04-30-2004, 03:03 PM
As a former pugilist, I agree.

MMMMMM
04-30-2004, 03:33 PM
"But in boxing, the measure of winning is phsically abusing your opponent until he can't compete any more."

So what? Nobody's forcing them to box.

"It's barbaric, unlike any other sport."

Not quite, IMO, since they enter into the contest of their own free volition. Apparently, in the minds of the pugilists, the financial rewards are more than adequate compensation.

Bullfighting: now there's a barbaric sport.

jdl22
04-30-2004, 03:40 PM
Bullfighting isn't a sport, it's an art.

MMMMMM
04-30-2004, 04:02 PM
[ QUOTE ]
Bullfighting isn't a sport, it's an art.

[/ QUOTE ]

Right, and as everyone knows, boxing isn't a sport, it's a science: "The sweet science of pugilism".

andyfox
04-30-2004, 08:31 PM
Neither bullfighting nor boxing is a sport.

We were questioning whether boxing is stupid. Two people trying to knock each other unconscious seems to qualify.

MMMMMM
04-30-2004, 10:02 PM
Give me a $5 million contract to face Mike Tyson in the ring and I'll show you how stupid I can be;-)

andyfox
04-30-2004, 11:39 PM
It would certainly be smart for Mr. Tyson; it might be smart for you, were you to escape in a vertical position. But it is, IMO, stupid for people to be intrigued by watching two people hit each other. It is especially stupid knowing the history of the fix in professional boxing.

MMMMMM
05-01-2004, 12:26 AM
I'm really not a boxing fan, but I can see where it could be something of an interesting contest--sort of like fencing, but without the foils.

Anyway, do you agree that bullfighting is more barbaric than boxing?

I wonder if bullfighting is fixed...

Long ago I used to work for a company selling frozen foods on a 6-month plan, with freezer and all. One lovely Autumn afternoon I found my way to a residence out in the hills of Massachusetts, on a sales lead. Pro Wrestling happened to be on TV, and although I was there on business, the homeowner was still watching.

Someone, perhaps McMahon, was interviewing a wrestler. The gentleman of the house bade me wait a moment, please sit down and enjoy. So I sat down. Mid-interview, another wrestler burst onto the scene and claimed the first guy was lying, and a shouting match ensued. This led to an altercation which ended with one wrestler getting clobbered over the head a few times with a folding chair. After knocking him silly, the other wrestler took some rope and wound him up in a chair with it, then did something else to him (which I forget).

Anyways, the prospect, who had asked me to wait a minute, was raptly taking this all in. He then turned to me and said, "I'm so glad he got that guy: he really deserved it. He broke the other guy's arm last week." He then bade me make myself comfortable, and asked if I would like anything to drink.

Thinking I'd seen everything, I was mentally preparing myself to begin the standard sales pitch, but this man's pint-sized dog was was barking too loudly to even have a reasonable conversation (probably excited at all the noise on TV--it was plenty loud). Soooo...this guy picked up his dog BY ONE HIND LEG and carried him into the basement that way and shut the door on him. Then he told me all about his home, and the 500 pounds of lamb he had "on the hoof" out in the backyard, and I can't even remember if I got the sale or not. Some things just leave too strong an impression. In fact I don't really remember anything much about the rest of the afternoon at all.

MMMMMM
05-01-2004, 12:30 AM
I'm really not a boxing fan, but I can see where it could be something of an interesting contest--sort of like fencing, but without the foils. And I do agree it's a bit barbaric, but hey, it's their choice.

Anyway, do you agree that bullfighting is more barbaric than boxing?

I wonder if bullfighting is fixed...

Long ago I used to work for a company selling frozen foods on a 6-month plan, with freezer and all. One lovely Autumn afternoon I found my way to a residence out in the hills of Massachusetts, on a sales call. Pro Wrestling happened to be on TV, and although I was there on business, the homeowner was still watching.

Someone, perhaps McMahon, was interviewing a well-known wrestler. The gentleman of the house bade me wait a moment, please sit down and enjoy. So I sat down. Mid-interview, another wrestler burst onto the scene and claimed the guy was lying, and a shouting match ensued. This led to an altercation which ended with the first wrestler getting clobbered over the head a few times with a folding chair. After knocking him silly, the other wrestler took some rope and wound him up in a chair with it, then did something else to him (which I forget).

Anyways, the prospect, who had asked me to wait a minute, was raptly taking this all in. He then turned to me and said, "I'm so glad he got that guy: he really deserved it. He broke the other guy's arm last week." He then bade me make myself comfortable, and asked if I would like anything to drink.

Thinking I'd seen everything, I was mentally preparing myself to begin the standard sales pitch, but this man's pint-sized dog was was barking too loudly to have even a reasonable conversation (probably excited at all the noise on TV--it was overly loud). Soooo...this guy casually picked up his dog BY ONE HIND LEG and carried him into the basement that way and shut the door on him. Then he told me all about his home, and the 500 pounds of lamb he had "on the hoof" out in the backyard, and I can't even remember if I got the sale or not. Some things just leave too strong an impression. In fact I don't really remember anything much about the rest of the afternoon at all.

andyfox
05-01-2004, 12:37 AM
Don't know much about bullfighting, but I'm much more concerned about what a person does to another person than what he does to a bull.

Wonderful story. I mean the way you've told it of course.

HDPM
05-01-2004, 12:55 AM
Exactly, which is why boxing is the sport to which all others aspire. (As has been said) Bullfighting as said below is an art. A reprehensible form of art where a sadistic kill is carried out by formula. The worst of the performance art, and not to be watched IMO. Boxing takes everything rancid about humans and elevates it into sport. The ultimate voyeur sport. You can't help but watch and thereby discover the rancid parts lurking in you.

As I said in a post in another thread, I had a bad day and am thinking Zeno is much too optimistic and philanthropic. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Josh W
05-01-2004, 09:32 PM
If you know/have met/ have seen Sooga, then the thought of him boxing has you in complete stitches right now. Hilarious stuff.

But true.

J

Sooga
05-01-2004, 09:59 PM
Say what you will, but the bottom line is that I am a perfect 1-0 in my amateur boxing career.

dogsballs
05-02-2004, 01:54 AM
[ QUOTE ]
I'm not surprised it isn't but I think cricket should be on the list ranked right with baseball. I thought cricket would be easier because the bat is flat while a baseball bat is round, but the bounce adds a serious degree of difficulty in batting.

Haven't really played cricket, just stepped in when a Jamaican friend of mine was bowling and I think that it was much harder to bat there than in baseball. He was taking it easy on me and there was pretty much nothing I could do but hope to get lucky.

Anybody actually played both?

[/ QUOTE ]


This just illustrates the flaw in this ranking setup - it's totally biased by those who picked and judged it. If you went ot jamaica and got their sports experts - or whoever it was at ESPN - to rank them, you'd find cricket way higher up - and no doubt, baseball way lower down...etc etc.

Basically, it's a pile of shite froth article.

PS: I don't like cricket; just for the record, but have played it and would say that the addition of the bounce combined with the seam on the ball would leapfrog it over baseball by a mile, according to the hand-eye coordination-skill set argument.

andyfox
05-02-2004, 02:19 AM
Then we're 1-1 between the two of us.

Josh W
05-02-2004, 06:41 AM
[ QUOTE ]
Say what you will, but the bottom line is that I am a perfect 1-0 in my amateur boxing career.

[/ QUOTE ]

While that may be true, do I need to remind you that:

A.) Your opponent's name was "Suni"
B.) Your opponent DID A CARTWHEEL during round 3.

No. I'm not making this up.

jdl22
05-02-2004, 06:46 AM
[ QUOTE ]
B.) Your opponent DID A CARTWHEEL during round 3.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow that must have been one hell of a punch, I'm impressed.

J_V
05-02-2004, 08:19 AM
The Cherokee word for pidgeon is "wallamie"

Kenrick
05-03-2004, 03:11 PM
Rating golf more physically demanding than bowling is silly. I doubt anyone on the panel of judges has ever thrown a 16-pound ball 18+mph for 50 games while duplicating speed and rotation each time. Even the analytical ability score is in question since in bowling you can't see the oil pattern as it changes. At least in other sports you get to see the obstacles.

Also, going from this list, apparently Ultimate Fighting isn't considered to be a sport.